The Australian Guild of Screen Composers is governed by Board Directors elected at AGSC Annual General Meetings. Board Directors attend meetings and oversee the wide range of initiatives the Guild’s sub-committees drive. To find out more about the 2024-25 Board Directors, click on the links below or scroll down.
Dale Cornelius
President
Education Committee Chair
I have had the honour of serving as President of the AGSC since November 2022 and as a board director since March 2020. During my tenure, I have been involved in several initiatives and collaborations that have contributed to the growth and development of our organisation.
Some notable achievements include:
1/ Initiating the establishment of NORMAH (Network of Recording Musicians at Home).
2/ Creation of AGSC’s new website.
3/ Instigating a free education webinar program for tertiary institutions nationwide in collaboration with members of the Education Committee. This program has not only elevated the profile of Australian Screen Composers but has also provided valuable guidance to tertiary students seeking to enter the professional screen industry.
4/ Creating the idea of ‘Composer to Composer’ web series of interviews where Australian screen composers interview one another, as a deep dive into their work practises and to highlight the amazing work created by Australian composers.
5/ Collaborating with NATSIMO National Manager, Leah Flanagan, to help create and foster partnerships for the NATSIMO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Screen Composer Intensive, which is now in its second year.
6/ Advising and collaborating with the Australian Music Centre (AMC) on the development of ‘Beyond the Screen’, an educational toolkit designed to inform secondary students about the diverse work practices of Australian screen composers and inspire the next generation to know about Australian composers.
7/ Working alongside fellow board members to secure a three-year MOU deal with APRA AMCOS. This agreement promotes enhanced communication and interaction between our organisations, facilitating increased support for events and educational opportunities amongst many other things.
8/ For the first time in our organisation’s history the AGSC presented a key forum at SPA’s Screen Forever (2023) Conference to much acclaim with the tremendous support of Charlie Chan, focussing on the value of screen composition and the benefits of meaningful early engagement.
9/ As part of the board, working with the other screen guilds to lobby the Federal government on proposed streaming models, alongside meeting with the Federal Office for the Arts to provide feedback on the models from a screen composer perspective and to suggest significant wording changes to the SAC (Significant Australia Content) Test, to ensure composers and other IP/content creators are part of the SAC.
I am proud to have contributed to these and many more initiatives, and look forward to continuing to serve the AGSC, its members, and its mission in the future.
Fiona Loader
Vice President
Industrial Relations Committee Member
Gender Equity Committee Member
I would like to continue to be on the board as I have really enjoyed working with AGSC this year particularly on areas of IR and gender equity including the wonderful credit maker program. My background in legal and copyright has been useful especially in assessing issues of copyright reform, proposed legislation and issues such as the streaming platform proposals which would greatly benefit our members. As a composer myself I feel I also have an understanding of many of our members’ concerns.
Biography
B.Mus; LLB; M.Mus; Grad.Dip. Legal Practice; A.Mus; L.Mus; ATCL; LTCL
I am a qualified solicitor and have worked in the music industry for over 20 years. I was involved in legal, policy and special projects at APRA/AMCOS and also worked as the Manager of Educational licensing and Print Music, responsible for setting up new licence schemes in schools, universities and all areas of education in both Australia and New Zealand.
In addition, I worked on committees negotiating agreements with other collecting societies such as CAL, VISCOPY, ARIA and PPCA and dealing with peak organisations such as the Copyright Advisory Group (CAG), the AVCC (representing all the universities) and was chair of the Working Group of Reprographic Rights for IFRRO (the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations) where I represented both Australia and New Zealand on copyright issues both here and in Europe.
At APRA I wrote many of the corporate documents on copyright and delivered many hundreds of seminars around the country on licensing, copyright and related issues, often in conjunction with the Australian Copyright Council or CAG representatives.
Since leaving APRA in 2011, I worked as an advisor to the Australian Music Examination Board (AMEB) on copyright and legal issues and on specific projects. I was the music industry representative on the Music Council of Australia board (now called the Music Trust) and the Tertiary Music Institution accreditation board as well as the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Association.
In 2015 I went back to university to study composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music where I completed a Master of Music (Composition) studying with Dr Paul Stanhope. My undergraduate degree was in piano performance from the Canberra School of Music (ANU).
Kingston Anderson
Secretary (non-voting Board Director)
Executive Director
Kingston is currently the Executive Director of the AGSC and producing for his production company Wonderland Productions. His most recent full-time position was as the CEO of the Australian Directors Guild and Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collection Society. He comes from a theatre and film background working as a theatre director, film and television producer as well as a consultant for screen organisations across Australia. He was the Film commissioner for the state of New South Wales in Australia and has served on a number of boards including the Association of Film Commissions International (AFCI), the AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY CONFERENCE (AIDC) and the AUSTRALIAN COPYRIGHT COUNCIL (ACC). He has been a judge for the documentary category of the Australian Walkeley Awards, the Australian Subscription Television & Radio Association Awards and on the jury for the Oceania Film Festival . He has produced a number of documentary programs for Australian television including the series “TAXI SCHOOL” for SBS Television Australia and ‘A FRONTIER CONVERSATION’ and ‘KULKA’ for National Indigenous Television (NITV). His most recent producing credit is “FREEING THE SONG” which was screened on the ABC Compass program in May 2023. He was also one of the producers on the SBS drama “AFTERSHOCKS” about the devastating Newcastle earthquake that was based on a verbatim account of events. This film won the Best Actor Award at the Australian Film Institute Awards for its lead Jeremy Sims. He continues to work on a number of other projects with his company as well as consulting on studio developments and other screen industry projects.
Stuart Smith
Treasurer (non-voting Board Director)
Since 1991, Stuart has been helping businesses and individuals with their financial, taxation and accounting requirements. He has assisted hundreds of businesses and thousands of individuals, establishing business structures for clients in numerous countries.
He has over 30 years of personal experience as a public accountant, a CFO for a multinational entity, and an affinity to businesses in the arts and creative industries.
Stuart has been involved with the AGSC since 2019, first supporting, then becoming Treasurer of the Guild. A love of music, a passion for the Arts, and a long-time ‘hobby’ guitarist, Stuart blends the financial and creative to provide knowledge and assistance to the Guild on all matters financial, including Film Investment and reinvestment matters, taxation and government support for the Guild.
Dan Golding
Games Committee Chair
I’m an award-winning composer for videogames (Untitled Goose Game, Frog Detective), and a university researcher at Swinburne, where I’ve just completed the first national study of the state of Australian game music, funded by Creative Australia. I also host Screen Sounds on ABC Classic and have championed Australian screen music across multiple contexts and media. I’d like to help the AGSC by bringing my expertise about the videogame soundtrack sector.
Josh Hogan
Industrial Relations Committee Member
Josh is a Composer and Sound Designer based in Walyalup (Fremantle), Western Australia, living and working on Whadjuk Nyoongar Boodjar. Along with Ned Beckley he forms the music and sound team behind Envelope Audio, a studio focussing on Original Composition and Sound Design for Film, TV, Games and live events. Significant credits include roles as Composer on Seasons 1 and 2 of the animated series 100% Wolf, Thalu (for which Hogan and Beckley won the Best Music for Children’s Television at the APRA Screen Music Awards), and the feature film Below. He has also written music for documentary and factual projects including the feature doco Folau, and the Disney+ series Shipwreck Hunters Australia.
Brontë Horder
Industrial Relations Committee Member
Awards Committee Member
I’m a composer, songwriter and vocalist. I’ve written and produced both score and bespoke songs for film, TV and documentary projects. My work has been nominated for Best Original Song Composed for the Screen at the APRA-AGSC Screen Music Awards three years in a row – Fragile Soul for the short film Ellie Was Here in 2021, Bear’s Theme for the documentary Bear:Koala Hero in 2020 and Day by Day for the short film Fourteen in 2019. My voice features in the score for the feature film The Dry & I sang backing vocals and played the piano on the end titles song Under The Milky Way.
I work as both a composer and Creative Director at The D.A’s Office, a bespoke music composition house. I work extensively with creators Dinesh Wicks and Adam Gock, composing underscore and songs for TV shows including Mirror Mirror, First Weapons and Love On The Spectrum, and most recently for documentary feature film Rose Gold.
I’m five years into my career composing screen music. I still have heaps to learn but in my time working so far, I have gained valuable insights into the way the industry works – from working as an assistant to a composer in LA to working as a composer and creative director in Sydney. I’ve worked across multiple genres and forms – drama feature film, documentary TV series, children’s TV drama, reality, promos, web series, shorts. I’ve worked solo and in a team. I think I can bring a unique perspective to issues discussed and acted on by the Board.
I have a great network of working composers at different stages of their careers so I am constantly having conversations about the challenges we are all facing in our ever-evolving media landscape. I want to use my voice to advocate for fellow composers. I want to be in the room where it happens – able to have meaningful conversations with APRA to help agitate for change such as less restrictive eligibility for Awards and more transparency with royalty payments.
I want to be part of recognising and celebrating the artistic excellence and success of Australian composers and part of the work that ensures that writing music is a sustainable career choice.
Natalie Jeffreys
Events Committee Chair
I am composer and composer’s assistant who specialises in video games, anime, and female-led narratives. I have been an events committee member AGSC for two years. I hosted Star Scores with Jesy Nelson and Nami Melumad in 2022, and was involved behind the scenes for several other events. I am an avid member of the Australian game audio community, having spoke at both High Score and PAX this year. As a composer, my most recent work is as Sub-Composer for Season Three of The Rising of the Shield Hero alongside Kevin Penkin and Alfredo Sirica, and as composer of additional music/sound design for the video game Every Hue of You. I am currently working on an unannounced JRPG to be released in 2024.
I am passionate about supporting and encouraging emerging and established composers alike. I started a forum earlier this year called Game Audio Goals where composers list their goals to seek the accountability and encouragement needed to achieve them. I also previously started an online group called Neurodivergent Creative Melbourne for neurodivergent artists to connect and share their work, which now has over 300 members.
If I were to be a board member, I would like to amplify the voice of video game composers and offer them formalised support as the video game industry in Australia rapidly grows. I would ultimately like to see video game composers given the same importance in the screen music industry as film and television composers currently have. I am also passionate about amplifying BIPOC voices, and would love to seek out opportunities to help composers of colour to receive the recognition they deserve. I am neurodivegent, and therefore would also be interested in developing support systems for other neurodivergent composers.
Biography
NATALIE JEFFREYS is a composer, sound designer, and composer’s assistant based in Melbourne, Australia. Her most recent work is as Sub-Composer for Season Three of The Rising of the Shield Hero alongside Kevin Penkin and Alfredo Sirica, and as composer of additional music/sound design for the video game Every Hue of You. She is currently working on an unannounced JRPG to be released in 2024.
She has most recently made a career out of assisting and orchestrating for composers, beginning with the video game Gods Unchained, assisting composer Simon Hanna, aka. GrandPrizeBigFuzz. As a recipient of the 2021 APRA AMCOS Women in Screen and Games Mentorship Program with Kevin Penkin, she also went on to assist him for several of his anime projects.
As a composer, she is particularly passionate about scoring female-led films. Her work includes collaborations with Jennifer Monk on the online series and stage play Super Jenny (with La Mama Theatre), the short film River Hags, the web-series Allsorts Arts, and short film Hansel’s Gretel. She also scored the short film The Testosterone Club (F Word Films), and the proof of concept for the comedy series Michael and Phillip (Northern Star Productions). She is also a spoken word artist and won the Melbourne Spoken Word Prize in 2018 for her poem “The Purity of Sadness.”
Noel Burgess
Board Member
With over 30 years of experience as a composer, producer, and performer specialising in electronic and dance music, I transitioned into the screen media and GLAM sectors over the last two decades. My academic and professional background includes a Bachelor of Music (Sonology) from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and a PhD from Macquarie University, where I investigated the impact of non-linear creative tools in contemporary screen composition. I currently work at Western Sydney University in the Music and Music Therapy program, alongside my ongoing creative practice.
Key career highlights include scoring the 52-part animated series CJ the DJ (ABC), the AACTA finalist indie feature Smoke Between Trees, and the immersive VR installation The Sound of Memories. These are alongside an array of other commercial work and continued creative practice output as Vision Four 5 and in my name.
During this time, I have been a member of AGSC since 2008 and I’ve actively contributed to the industry as an ARIA and APRA judge, music director for the Australian Dance Music Awards (DMA 2000–2004), and board member for the National Trust of Australia. My work has been recognized with various nominations and awards.
As the creative and consumer landscape for screen media is rapidly evolving, my focus is on understanding how composers adapt to new creative modalities and industry shifts. I seek to bring my experience and insights to the AGSC board to help ensure our community remains relevant, represented, and resilient in the digital age while continuing the work of the guild to build a bridge between education and industry.
Amara Primero
Awards Committee Member
I am a screen composer, working across shows in Australia and the USA, having collaborated with some of the industry’s most acclaimed TV directors and producers. I was the Winner of the Los Angeles Cinematography Awards (LACA) 2019 for Best Original Music Score (Stille Nacht) and a Finalist in the 2019 Music + Sounds Awards. I am a founding committee member of Women in Music Australia and In 2022 I became an official APRA AMCOS Ambassador to help advocate the rights on behalf of music creators to all levels of government, the media and the wider industry. Featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, I address the importance of Australian composers taking a more prominent position in background music libraries in sync for Film, TV and Advertising. I was the composer on the 2022 feature documentary, “Shane,” on the late Shane Warne (Amazon Prime Video) and am currently at work on a 3-Part Series and a Feature Documentary for Stan to be announced at the end of the year.
I am the founder and director of Primerchord Production Music. Primerchord has supplied music for TV shows, including The Real Housewives franchise, Bondi Rescue, The Great Australian Bakeoff, Discovery’s, Sydney Harbour Force, Outback Car Hunters, The Repair Shop Australia and Amazon’s Making the Cut (a Project Runway Spinoff).
I would be honoured to join the AGSC board. I have a passion for sharing my experiences and knowledge with the industry and I would love to help advise and be a voice for AGSC members. In my day-to-day operations, I am committed to creating opportunities for composers in our industry to have their music performed. I would be thrilled to join the board of the AGSC to continue advocating on behalf of the industry, to make it equitable, sustainable and empowered with opportunities.